Enewsletter

Enewsletter • March
27, 2013

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

Links
and Excerpts

The
Future: Bill Gates Hops on the Bandwagon
“Animal liberation can be the future.…
Change will not come by revolution, but
through person-by-person outreach progressing
hand-in-hand with advances in technology,
leading slowly but inexorably to a new norm.…
Now, the Gates Foundation is getting on
the bandwagon!” Full
article.

Feedback
on A
Meaningful Life
“I often get very upset and want to
lash out. Although it felt good to get things
off my chest, I felt like I was the enemy.
And I’m not. I have always sought to be
peaceful and loving, even before I was a
vegetarian (and now vegan). Who would want
to listen to me if I could not listen to
them?” Full quote.

Dr.
Oz on Soy by Jack Norris
“[P]rocessed soy does not contain
more isoflavones (the “soy estrogens”)
per serving than unprocessed soy, so this
doesn’t make much sense.… Nor is
there any evidence that more than two teaspoons
a day is problematic.” Full
article.

Being
Fearlessly Vegan by Ginny Messina
“Why are some vegans eager to believe
that certain plant foods, or sometimes,
whole categories of plant foods are so dangerous
that they need to be avoided at all costs?… Marla
Rose: ‘We should be doing everything
we can to remove the barriers to compassionate
living, not putting up more arbitrary and
personal hurdles that have nothing to do
with it.’ This is it exactly.” Full
article.

Notes
from Our Members

Rachel
and I had a great start to the tour:
despite the unusual cold, we reached over 4,200
students at the University of Texas–Pan American. So many
highlights, including a student who had decreased
his consumption of animals when he got a booklet
in the past, and is now committed to going all
the way. We also met Andrea [right], who was stoked to get a Guide and pledged to go veg from now on! Many came back to get booklets for
friends, family, coworkers, and students, including
two philosophy professors. Rachel was asked
to be interviewed for the college radio station.
We met so many interested students – a huge
change from when I was first here in 2008!
Who but Vegan Outreach would be speaking out
for the animals in Edinburg, Texas of all places?
I love the work we do! —Vic Sjodin, 1/17/13

Was great to leaflet
with Michelle at UCLA – we reached over 1,600
students. One guy said the last time he came
across a Compassionate Choices, he and his wife
almost went vegan. Hopefully this day’s booklet,
conversation, and Guide will be the
last push they need!
Set a new record
at Moorpark College – reached over 1,700 students.
One of the Guides went to a 76-year-old civil
engineer! After a long conversation, he’s going
to talk to his wife about trying some vegan
recipes!—Steve Erlsten, 1/15/13

Reached
a total of 1,541 students at two
Portland Community College campuses and Clackamas
Community College, including giving out nearly
100 Guides!
At both branches
of PCC, vegans told me about non-vegan friends
who gave them a hard time about being vegan,
and they wanted to read A Meaningful Life
and The Animal Activist’s Handbook.
Other good encounters, including:
A man [right] had cut
back on meat since reading a previous booklet,
and he wants to go vegetarian in the future.
A man took a booklet
and said, “(expletive) those factory farms!”
so I gave him a Guide.
A man whose wife
is vegetarian said he feels unhealthy when he
doesn’t eat meat himself, and he was happy to
get a Guide.
I also met a woman
who had done a report on this topic, a woman
who had done a Girl Scout project on this topic,
and a man whose high school culinary teacher
had encouraged the class not to cook factory
farmed animals.—Cobie deLespinasse, 1/9/13

The
highlight at Miami-Dade College,
Medical Campus came right at the end, when the
security officer who passed me several times
even returned asking why he hadn’t been offered
one! Turns out he’d already been considering
vegetarianism since his sister and an aunt had
been eating mostly veg. A nice end to this great
day of outreach!—Yuri Mitzkewich, 1/15/13

Started
off the semester big by breaking
the record at CSU East Bay – Eleanor, Kitty,
Rob, and I reached over 2,100 students. Supportive
feedback and friendly students!
Another record
at De Anza College – Eleanor, Kitty, Rob, and
I reached 3,570 students! I met a young lady [left]
who went veg after getting a brochure from Mike
last semester. Eleanor met a woman who went
vegan over a year ago from a booklet.
And yet another
record at Santa Rosa Junior College – Kitty,
Tim, and I reached 1,900 students. Students
were friendly and receptive, despite temperatures
in the 30s!
And yes, another
record, this time at Diablo Valley College,
with Jeni, Kitty, and Jessica. Despite the freezing
temperatures, we reached nearly 4,000 for the
day (including Los Medanos College). Best for
me was a young lady who came right back and
said, “Thank you so much for this, I just
made the decision to go vegan last week and
this is really inspiring to see!”—Brian Grupe, 1/15/13

New
record at Northern Virginia Community
College, Alexandria. Ruth, a vegan of 30
years, stopped by to say that she really appreciated
what I was doing and that she followed VO. She
stopped by later with her 18-year-old daughter
who has been vegan her whole life – great representatives
of a vegan diet. I also came across a number
of new vegans and those interested in eating
more vegan fare. After getting the Even
If You Like Meat, one guy said, “But
I do like meat.” I told him that we’re
simply asking people to cut back on it. He said,
“That’s reasonable. I’ll give it a try.”
A great day!—Jon Camp, 1/14/13

John Oberg and Meggie Townsend leaflet Arizona State.

Meggie
and I were joined by Molly, and
we reached over 3,100 students at Arizona State.
Early in the morning I handed a booklet to a student
who replied with “I’m vegan! F*** yeah!”
Clearly she was happy we were there. Also met
a supportive 12-year vegan. In fact, I met 8
vegans by 10:30 am! Must be a personal record.
Ran into a dude named Xavier who had gone veg before but got sick; he told me he’s now
trying to get back into it and the Guide will
be super helpful. Had a good conversation
with a student who had gone veg but became anemic.
Of course I handed her a Guide and pointed
out the health tips! Highlight was
meeting JJ [below, right], a student who received a booklet
from us on December 3rd of last year. He exclaimed,
“I haven’t eaten meat since you guys gave
me this last month!” He made it clear
we made an impact on him. Great stuff!!!

Glendale Community
College is a hotbed of interested students – new
vegetarians, people wanting to go vegetarian,
people wanting to go back to being veg, etc. Had a great conversation with Bailey and Elisia [above, left]. Elisia is a vegetarian who is trying to keep on it and Bailey is her former-vegetarian friend that wants to get back on it. Both were inspired by the booklet; Elisia to continue and Bailey to give it a second shot! They were both totally stoked to get a Guide.
Four different students – Netty, Kirsten [below], David,
and Nick – stopped to help me leaflet during
the day. Once we had saturated the campus, I returned
to Arizona State for a bit. One of the first students I spoke with, Matt [left], said the booklet turned him vegetarian when we handed him one last semester! He was even interested in volunteering. Whoop whoop!—John Oberg, 1/15/13

Netty Kinnz (above) and Kirsten Schulte (below) leaflet GCC.

The
Morrissey show in Bethesda was
fantastic! He performed “Meat Is Murder” and projected
Meet Your Meat on a huge screen as the last
song of a set. Kimberly and I grabbed booklets
and handed them all out in a short period of
time. People were very receptive, so if there
is a Morrissey show in your town, it’s definitely
worth leafleting – the people will be primed
by the show!—Vlad Konstantinov, 1/16/13

Today’s
leafleting at Clara Barton High
School puts me over 500,000 reached, lifetime.
Lots of work over the years but it’s very worthwhile.
I’ve discovered that most students don’t share
feedback unless we inquire. But I know from
experience it works – when slow, I ask those
who got the booklet before what they thought,
and most state it’s bad / sad, and many go on
to say they have made changes. Leafleting can
educate / influence an entire school with very
little time, effort, and resources. —Casey, 1/17/13

Genuinely
interested students at Eastern
Illinois University, despite the cold rain.
Heard from a dozen vegetarians / vegans – one
of whom said it was receiving a booklet in the
past that had prompted the change.
Double-digit number
of vegetarians and vegans at Illinois State;
more importantly, many students with seemingly
genuine curiosity about what modern farming
does to animals. A good example: one of the
first students I offered the booklet to initially
declined, but upon seeing it was about animals,
doubled back to get it, then walked a few steps,
paused and turned around to thank me for the
booklet. —Joe Espinosa, 1/15/13

Great
leafleting with Mark at the University
of Illinois, Chicago. We were able to answer many
questions from interested students, and met
a number of vegans and vegetarians.—Leslie Patterson, 1/16/13

A
great start to the semester at
the University of North Florida – we reached
over 1,400 students! Met students who had just
started to change their diets; and several students
commented how many vegans there are on campus
now compared to years prior.—Jeff Boghosian, 1/8/13

Good
conversations at Armstrong Atlantic State University, where I met several vegetarians
and a couple of aspiring vegetarians and two
folks who were going from veg to vegan. One
woman I had spoken with before said she was
still making steady progress toward being veg.
Even more great
conversations at Savannah State, including various
people who had been influenced by booklets in
the past. Loads of other great feedback. I love
this school!
Solid day at Georgia
Tech, including a conversation with a faculty
member who was going to read the booklet in
her office. Lots of vegetarians, vegans, and
people transitioning. Some students even came
around after passing me several times before.
Well worth it
today at Rollins College, with lots of positive
reactions. Veganism is really well known at
this school; e.g., a recent newsletter profiled
a student who went vegan after taking a class
on food issues at Rollins.—Dawn Ratcliffe, 1/17/13

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.